How To Cut Costs And Save On Business Expenses

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Pink Pewter (@pinkpewter) Founder and CEO, and #ITAP Artist Mireya Villarreal's (@mireya_villarreal_) journey began in her mother's 600-foot salon where she started working with a cosmetology license at 17 while simultaneously attending college. At the time, Mireya charged just $12 for haircuts. Fast forward to today, her beauty brand is sold in over 30 countries and Mireya has built relationships and worked with some of the largest retail and professional beauty brands in the world. Her success spans from developing products for Katy Perry's "Prism" line that went on to sell globally at Claire's, traveling the world giving motivational speeches to salon owners and other beauty business entrepreneurs, and serving as an active board member of Cosmetologists Chicago to help future salon professionals fulfill their dreams of entering the beauty industry.

Mireya has even added author to her list of achievements. Her new book, Next Level Mindset: Crush the Barriers to Success outlines her journey to success including her missteps, failures, and the valuable lessons she took away from them.

One of those valuable lessons was the importance of cutting costs to boost her business. Here's what she had to say on the topic.

Q: What are some ways for salon owners to cut costs in the salon and in daily life?

Mireya Villareal: First, before you can make any progress on cutting costs, you need to realize that cutting small expenses counts. Never say "Oh, it's only $10 a month." This is the biggest mistake people make in business, and in their personal life. If you're set in this mindset, you will never cut any costs. You also need to know all of your itemized costs, so creating reports on a monthly basis at minimum is a great habit to get yourself into.

Q: Where should someone start when it comes to planning budget cuts?

MV: If you didn't have any income any longer, what would be the first few things you would cut out? Whatever you listed should be things you eliminate now. Most overspending happens with eating out, food delivery, and expensive coffee. Once you deal with these basic cost cutting ideas, then you can start looking deeper at other things like credit card transaction fees, website costs, mobile phone data storage fees, overscheduling employees, etc.

Q: What are some expenses business owners can cut? And are there some less expensive alternatives that can save them a lot of money in the long run?

MV: Spotify or any music service provides a free option that has some commercials every so often. So, what. You always get ads on YouTube videos and everywhere else, so people are used to this. Just use the free versions. Making your own playlist is another option.

Having a pod coffee maker in the office or salon always looks nice, but in reality, it's a huge waste of your hard-earned dollars. Most cups of coffee go unfinished and at 50 cents or more per cup, it's literally money down the drain. Take a few minutes and make a fresh pot using fresh grounds. Put it in a fancy pot or display tray if it makes you feel better, and get your coffee costs down to less than 15 cents a cup.

And stop eating out so much. If you do this on your own or in your business, be smart about it. Bring a lunch every other time to get started. This will get you into good habits, and you will save a ton. If you are stuck on eating out, then go pickup your food instead of using delivery. You can easily save eight dollars per meal by not paying those expensive add-on fees.

It all adds up!

Q: Any last piece of advice when it comes to slashing costs?

MV: Stop worrying about what other people may think. Do the smart thing for yourself and your business.